Megabear2

If you have the covid test and its positive you are covered on your insurance and if you are the travelling companion should be paid out to. There are several problems : no test equals almost impossible to prove you have covid as no one will test you if you have symptoms and it has to be certified. For my part even if no test is required by P&O I will pay for a certified test to ensure if the worst happens I have the required proof. It's most certainly not ideal but that will be a personal decision that others can make. The questionnaire has always existed but was tweaked for covid purposes and is now too wide to allow an honest answer. Previously it was answered at the port not days before. This meant it was dealt with by a human and medical staff were on hand to help. Now itsxa computer algorithm so no human is involved. Consequently no one will answer it truthfully so its spurious to say it's for safety because quite simply it has the opposite affect, no matter what's wrong no one in their right mind will answer anything other than no. ABTA cannot say its "illegal". They are a trade body with no lawful reason to judge. They can however give an opinion and take issue with a member and normally the member takes the appropriate action. To get a legal opinion court action would be required. It is hoped that the risk of adverse publicity if ABTA issues a statement will be enough to stop P&O stating these events are insurable if they aren't. They cannot be forced by anyone other than a court but they can at least be made to amend and issue a warning of what is and isn't insurable this allowing those booking to be forewarned.

The Eurostar has already cut capacity and has been unable to reopen Ebbsfleet and Ashford due to the passport issues. If these timings for scanning etc are right they will be at risk of needing to halve the service again, or worse go out of business.

I once did the galley tour followed by lunch on Azura. The head chef escorting us had previously worked mainly on Oriana and Ventura. He told us he was surprised on boarding Azura that she actually had a proper functioning kitchen with ovens etc as her sister Ventura had a more automated kitchen requiring less staff and offering little real cooking. He told us Britannia was totally automated and that Azura in his opinion would be the last where "real" food preparation and cooking could happen.

It is a cruise line's fault that they advertise UK guests can claim on their travel insurance if they are refused boarding when it is blatantly untrue. US guests presumably don't lose their cash if they have the misfortune to be refused boarding because of the health questionnaire. I cannot imagine that every time a US resident books a cruise he expects to lose thousands of dollars if he has the misfortune to develop a cold or get strep throat, but I would be very interested to hear if that is the case? I am aware of class actions etc in the US and see reference to them on other cruise line threads and boards. UK residents do not as a rule have access to these and legal recourse is difficult and expensive for individuals. The UK agency governing travel in the UK believes residents here are being asked to meet thresholds in the US where different laws apply. The OP on of this thread and her affected travelling companions has lost all of her money which will be several thousands not just her holiday and now faces a lengthy and difficult battle with her insurer and P&O. Are you seriously suggesting that US residents accept this possibility as a given when booking a cruise that a simple non covid related cough will lose them 100% cruise fare? We already have a situation where all deposits made in the UK are non refundable which I understand differs wildly from the US. Add to this the statement to rely on insurance (which is compulsory for UK travellers) which is worthless in these circumstances and the contracts being made by British cruisers with the cruise lines are frankly fraudulent.

Here you go, Halfway down after the partnership with HE blurb: https://www.pocruises.com/travel-insurance I'm currently travelling again, this time for a happy reason. My aunt is now back home after her extended hospital stays with all treatment completed so I'm going to stay with her for a few days. I will monitor my emails and these boards for updates but unless anything major happens will not be doing anything in the matter until next week.

Morning all. This is getting quite emotive! The problem is simple no one in their right mind believed that P&O and Cunard would knowingly put passengers at risk of losing all their money so took little notice of the actual consequences of the removal of FCC (indeed some sailed in September not realising it had gone). We are now seeing the result of this arbitrary action and rightly are outraged at the stupidity of it. Let's take a breath here and look at it logically. Clause 22 etc etc are challengable in a court and P&O are relying on no one going that way. As a result they will try to do their normal and "buy off" individuals with non disclosure agreements. Those who have lost money will doff their caps, say thank you very much and go on their way while the other thousands sail on in ignorance. To be fair a lot on here weren't particularly interested when I asked how they felt about the change of terms so why would the wider public be - that's what P&O etc al are banking on. Now emotions aside let's look at where we are. I've researched and called their bluff and challenged the policy as unfair and they are walking on difficult shifting ground. By going to the very person they have all over their website as an insurance expert we have an answer before they can circle their wagons so to speak. That no doubt has caused a bit of hand wringing that they just might be caught out on this one. Remember they have form on this. I called their bluff on offloading and who was responsible for the passengers who were quarantined ashore. They had to admit they were. I challenged them via Adam Edinburgh and the FCA earlier this year on uninsurable sections of their policy. They pushed the matter to their lawyers who were supposed to speak to me and arranged for a Q&A with Adam Edinburgh to appear on their website. In other words they had to realise we might be green but we aren't cabbage looking. So, instead of us arguing about what we can't do, let's focus on what we've already achieved. It's very early days on this but they are already preparing to talk. We have the facts, we have the argument, we're gathering the figures and more importantly we know we are right that it's all uninsurable. We can I'm absolutely certain get some movement on all this. Slowly, slowly catch the monkey.

Interesting idea! I doubt I'll get away with the first idea but no harm in having a go. I'm expecting a call next week before we move on to lawyers and ABTA, I'll see if your second thought raises any hairs!

The problem going forward is financial loss for those refused boarding, quarantined or offloaded. No doubt you have read of the insurance situation and therefore are aware of some facing major loss of money. The number of cases, coughs etc are taking higher priority as a result of that and fear of losing your money. As someone embroiled in an argument with a cruise line and insurer over a non covid related claim which currently means a £19,000 loss I know personally how difficult it will be to argue any case based on the current terms.

One week cruises are not getting the same number of cases. Ventura had well in excess of 100 on her last cruise and masking was ordered. Queen Victoria had the same problem at the identical time with even CC host Hattie having her husband quarantined.

Am I to assume you received FCC by way of compensation or was that what you were awaiting that wasn't dealt with? I doubt very much some of the people having all the problems now would settle for a few days FCC after the way some of them are now being treated and at least three I know of will never cruise again thanks to the heavy handed tough luck approach.

Or if they're ignoring all the coughing anyway, just lie on the questionnaire because they won't give a damn once you're onboard according to those who've just sailed or are sailing. Jeepers what a mess they're creating ...

I think it's a case of who's in charge of the dining room. We had our wine kept on freedom dining on Britannia last time out. Mind you we never had much left ... Our problem the time before was the dining room not stocking the wines included in the Captain and Commodore collections, that really was impossible.

Seems very reasonable. Was just interested as you are debating with some of the older stalwart cruisers on the board. Sadly I don't think the cruise ship designers will be changing any time soon so we're all stuck with what we have for now.

Which ships are you sailing on as a matter of interest? I've sailed four lines this year and it's pretty much standard layout on every ship. I don't think your idea would work. P&O are the closest to what you are suggesting. The big US ships are mostly casual, Princess a few dress up but the majority are smart casual whatever that is, Cunard are stiffly formal, Celebrity is smart casual with a dress to impress night where a few wear formal wear but the majority don't. The high end lines boast they are country club casual. Why are you so keen to pick P&O if there is all this choice to wear what you want?

That would be impossible on some ships I think. They're pretty much designed with no front restaurants and the public areas such as bars being in the middle. You'd be banning half from the theatre and half from the show lounge on Britannia for instance!

Meanwhile have a great cruise.

Might depend on how hairy one is!! My hair will soak a towel for days and my husband is not folicly challenged on his head or body. If there's no spares I take some from the pool just for my hair!

And there I was thinking I was the only sleuth! Looking for disappearing staff and if they reappear, signs of constant use of room service for cabins, unusual and unexpected group cabin calls over the ship, people wandering around in Prenetics gear, hopefully no calls for masks but if the worst occurs on which day and how long after a port call. Any refusal of entry into Caribbean ports - they have far higher thresholds on infection than the UK as evidenced by the number of US ships having problems. I'm like Inspector Clouseau when I cruise at the moment as I always blunder into things I shouldn't!

No, I'm afraid not. That's the main problem. We asked our steward to leave extra ones outside when he delivered our ice at 3.30, he did in fact put them inside the room on the bed.

Compromise needed by all on this one. Cannot understand why people get so vexed either way. We've had three big family weddings this year and all those that "made an effort" who were not part of the bridal parties were the under 35. It was a shock to see so many beautiful dresses on the girls and smart, mainly checked, three piece suits on the boys. Put a lot of the older generation in their seen better days suits and dresses to shame. The younger generation do like to dress up but want to do it by choice not being ordered.

Hi. You cannot email or telephone a complaint at the first point of contact. You will need to register it via this link: https://www.abta.com/help-and-complaints/customer-support/register-a-complaint Once you've done that you will get a reference number. On receipt of the complaint an online portal for communication opens and you and they converse through that. I've cheated a bit as I have a direct telephone and email link with a dedicated adviser who is dealing with my Princess complaint. She very kindly jumped me up the queue on discussing P&O although I've not yet registered a formal complaint as I'm in communication with P&O direct at the moment - being discussed at the "highest level" and with the legal team apparently. If you're contacting Paul Ludlow the email I get responses from within a few days is executive.correspondence@carnivalukgroup.com. This is Paul Ludlow and Sture Mymerl's office. Megan is quite responsive at present, although she's not my personal contact. I also got a 5 day reply from po.guestsupport@carnivalukgroup.com when I told the telephone operator I wouldn't accept any nonsense of waiting months. Suggest you raise the ABTA complaint first - Ludlow/Mymerl's people seem rather scared of a reference number from them! Regarding Calder and Daily Mail one of my other lady contacts from another source has raised the FCC/insurance matter with MSE (Martin Lewis). No harm in your adding to his postbag perhaps! Hope that helps.

Excellent, glad to have someone else onboard (in your case literally!)

I have now got 6 people who were in this position. As Moley said elsewhere it seems P&O are arbitrarily deciding any minor cough cold or whatever is a reason to refuse boarding. There is no appeal, they are sent to the insurer. Honesty doesn't pay I'm afraid.

A lot of these things like pillow choice were introduced a few years back to compete with the big American resorts and upmarket hotels where they were desperate for a novelty to make them stand out. Americans do make s big deal out of this as a result, particularly with so many professing allergies etc. Wine waiters reduced the wait times for its arrival, basically making both your wine and meal be served quicker. Again on lines with vast selection of wine and a massive "cellar" they were helpful in choosing a wine. The Cunard wine menu for instance runs to tens of pages, often with very rare and expensive options. However on a run of the mill cruise line like P&O there aren't that many wine officianados to deal with, the wine list is fairly small and therefore any waiter can learn the basics and serve it. I'm one who likes turndown. On my Celebrity and Princess cruises I could ask via the app for it when I wanted it, ie the whole cruise, on selected days or not at all. This was a really good option so everyone could plan a accordingly. My cabin attendants on both lines knew exactly when we were leaving the cabin and attended to things immediately after we left. It is also in my opinion a good opportunity to leave a note in the morning if you need something that's running out and for it to be delivered that evening. I like a bucket of ice in the evening, for medical reasons not drinks. Having it delivered outside my room at 3.30pm on Britannia was definitely not as good as it arriving at 8.00pm on Princess and Celebrity. Although not a deal breaker turndown is a nice to have and to some makes things that little bit "special" for that individual.

If you get any numbers on cases could you post them here please? It's one of the things ABTA have asked if I have any knowledge of along with how many refused boarding for non covid related questionnaire failures. They are interested in cruise date as they have a theory (not officially) that fear of being refused boarding will have exacerbated case numbers since FCC and compulsory testing stopped.